Hardware Module

Part 1 -- Input Devices

Computers need a way to bring in information. Devices that enable computer to bring in data are called input devices. The keyboard is the most common input device.

Windows and Mac OS rely heavily on the mouse as an input device.

As computers get more sophisticated, they will be able to recognize the user's voice. The microphone will eventually replace the keyboard and mouse as the most used input device.

Computers are being used to create multimedia presentation. Low cost ($100) cameras like the one pictured below are being used to add movies to presentations or for video conferencing across the Internet.

Network cards and modems are dual purpose boards. They allow the user to obtain information from a network and also to transmit information to a network. These cards are classified as both input and output devices.

Hard drives and floppy drives are also input and output device but they are considered storage devices and will identified in the Processing section aid in the processing of information. They will described in the processing se ction because they are storage devices.